


Moments

by earlywritings (welcometolotr)



Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Akatsuki - Freeform, Babies, Character Death, Childhood, Dango, F/M, Fighting, Food, Gen, Introspection, Loss, M/M, Memories, Mental Illness, Missions, Romance, Uchihacest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-13 00:25:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 20,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometolotr/pseuds/earlywritings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The life and times of Itachi Uchiha: His missions, his relationships, and everything life decided to throw at him. This is his story. </p><p>A series of oneshots in various AUs, containing a plethora of pairings and situations that were requested. Chapter titles will contain pairings. See notes before each chapter for applicable warnings.</p><p>This collection was begun in 2009 and spanned to 2012. I do not plan to write more for it, but seeing as Naruto hasn't ended yet and Itachi keeps popping up, I may be reinspired at some point.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unexpected - Itachi/Sasuke

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Incest

It was warm. It was wet.

And it was _hot_.

The passion in the kiss was so unexpected that Itachi lost himself for a second. But only a second.

The Uchiha prodigy was never surprised. He couldn't afford to be, not while he was one of the top ten ninja in the bingo book with a hundred million bounty on his head.

But he was now.

And a second was all it took for his little brother to send a chidori nagashi through his body.

He didn't regret it. He loved his brother.

Itachi couldn't think of a better way to die.

 


	2. Teasing - Itachi & Shisui

He turned around and glared at his best friend. "Shisui! I told you not to call me that! You know I hate it!"

The older boy grinned back. "But it sounds so cute! Come on, you know you like it, Ita-kun!"

"Agh! Shut up!" Itachi frowned, screwing up his eyes and covering his ears with his hands in an attempt to ignore the other Uchiha.

"Oh, right, you're supposed to be the clan prodigy, I forgot. Is that why you don't like it? Is it embarrassing?" Shisui tackled his younger friend and began tickling him mercilessly. "Or maybe you don't want to look like a little kid in front of Sasuke? I'm sure he'll get a laugh out of it when I tell him what I called you when you were ten. When he's old enough and can appreciate it, of course."

"Don't-you-dare!" Itachi gasped at the other boy through his laughter. "There's no way I'm letting you anywhere near him when he's older!

Shisui hopped off his friend and stood up, extending a hand to the helpless prodigy. "Need a hand, Ita-kun?"

The younger boy just glared at him.

-

Itachi opened his eyes, feeling nostalgic. _I miss you, my friend. I haven't been called Ita-kun ever since you annoyed me with it, Shisui, and I almost miss it._

He glanced up at the stars, blurry in his failing vision.

_Almost._

\--

-


	3. Sleeping - Fugaku

Mikoto was exhausted, and Fugaku didn't blame her.

He was, too.

Their newest son - Sasuke, he reminded himself - was a crier. He had nice, healthy lungs that he put to good use every morning, noon, night...Hell, he cried at midnight, dusk, dawn, twilight and whatever else you could possibly think of. For god's sakes, the damn kid even cried in his sleep! He and his wife were overjoyed, sure, but there was a limit to joy and crying twenty-four seven crossed the line. He needed sleep.

He would've been happier if Sasuke had was like Itachi, and Itachi had been downright creepy as a baby! He'd sleep quietly whenever they left him alone - a blessing and a miracle in itself, the other mothers had assured - and whenever somebody walked in he'd just open his eyes and watch them as they moved around. No crying whatsoever.

Come to think of it, he'd never actually seen Itachi cry. Even when confronted with the injuries and deaths during the war he'd keep a straight face and stay silent.

He couldn't deal with this right now.

He needed sleep. The captain of the police force was powerful in his own right, but running on an hour's sleep for the past two days was something he'd done once, years ago, and was confident that he'd never let himself do it again.

Picking up the wailing baby from his cushiony spot in the middle of the crib, Fugaku walked into the kitchen where he knew Itachi was studying. Telling his older son to keep the kid quiet so his mommy and daddy could get some sleep, he turned and ran out of the room, skidding down the hall and entering the room where his wife was sleeping soundly, oblivious to the noise. Closing the door softly, he crept up to the bed and slid under the covers, grateful for the quiet. _Wait...quiet? Oh, man, I'm tired. I'll deal with whatever it is later..._ he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

-

Stretching and opening his eyes, Fugaku stifled a yawn. _It's good that it's a sunday,_ he remarked to himself. _Itachi doesn't have to go to the Academy. I hope he put Sasuke in his crib at one point or another._ The six-year-old was fairly reliable when it came to his little brother, so Fugaku wasn't worried. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, yawning again. _Aaah, nice and quiet. Haven't had this for a while._ Wondering why on earth the kid wasn't crying, he walked out of the room and down the hall quietly, listening for Itachi or Sasuke to see where the two were.

Sliding the kitchen door open, he stumbled back in surprise. Itachi was still studying at the table and he had Sasuke in his lap, quiet as could be.

The older boy shifted and turned around, staring inquisitively at his father. "Good morning, Father. Did you have a good sleep?"

Fugaku closed his eyes and sighed, gratefully. "I don't know how you managed to do it, Itachi, but thank you. You are officially a lifesaver, my boy."

Sasuke gurgled.

\--

-


	4. Temptation - Itachi/Naruto

He curled his arms around his love and kept the boy still. "Hush, Naruto. You're wounded and you have tracker nin coming after you every step of the way. The only way for me to be assured of your safety is to keep you here."

"But Itachi! I'm perfectly capable of defending myself! I don't need you here!" the blond protested. "Just because we're…involved…does not mean you have free reign over all I do!"

The Sharingan user leveled him a glare. "Naruto, we tried that and look how you've ended up. Injured and helpless. Just trust me."

The blond laughed, frustrated. "Itachi, why should I trust you? The only reason we even tolerate each other is because we enjoy each other physically on occasion. You're still an SS ranked nukenin with a flee-on-sight. I'm still a loyal Konohagakurian ANBU with a flee-on-sight. We are not romantic; we're not mentally involved on any level. I have no good basis on which to trust you, Itachi Uchiha. Give it up, let me go, and the next time we meet it'll be like any other time. Physical release. Nothing more and nothing less." He looked at his partner, set on making him understand this aspect of their relationship. "And furthermore, I believ-"

He was cut off with a whisper from Itachi and a slim hand covering his mouth. "Silence!" The older man pushed both of them further into the nook in the tree that they were taking shelter in and quickly cast a genjutsu to cover their hiding place from the kiri hunter-nin that were attempting to stalk them.

Watching as the hunters passed their hiding place, Itachi silently reassured himself that they weren't going to find their targets on this night. As the hunters passed out of range, he turned back to the blond and kissed him as hard as he could, slipping as much passion as was physically possible into the action. Naruto immediately responded, caution thrown to the winds as he began to reciprocate, moaning in pleasure. "Itachi…Itachi!"

The older nin took the invitation and began sliding Naruto's clothes off, piece by piece. Naruto stilled as Itachi slid his tongue out of the younger man's mouth and looked at the blond in all his glory. "Yes, Naruto?"

The boy looked away abashedly and began playing with Itachi's hair, avoiding his gaze. "Itachi…I know we've been doing this for years, but I have to know…do you really love me or was I right?"

The missing-nin leaned over his partner and sighed. "Naruto, if I was looking for a physical relationship and nothing else, I would've asked Kisame. I'm quite aware of the fact that he's gay, is interested in me, and certainly has a killer physique. Literally." He smiled, glancing over Naruto's body. "But either way, you mean much more to me than he does. And with you, I'm on top."

Naruto flushed, but continued his prodding. "So…?"

"Naruto, you tempt me like no one else. I don't know if love is the right word, per se, but I most certainly feel a connection, an attachment if you will, towards you." the Uchiha answered.

Naruto's eyes widened in realization and he brought his arms up to catch his partner in a passionate embrace.

Itachi smirked at the blushing ANBU, nuzzling his neck and placing kisses along the line of his jaw. "Purely physical, huh?"

\--

-


	5. Respect I - Itachi in ANBU

It was hard.

So very hard.

Everyone around him respected him, acknowledged him. Not as a man, not as a person; they acknowledged him as an able captain within their ranks. All the ANBU knew who he was, even with his mask on, for he was the smallest of them all. Just thirteen, and yet already a captain in the ranks of the higher ninja. The only levels higher than ANBU captain within the village were hunter-nin and kage, and nobody could become a hunter-nin until they were at least thirty because of the psychological damage the occupation was prone to. Kage was out of the question. And yet, the way people treated him, he might as well have been one. They gave him respect, not friendship, and advice instead of support.

They meant well, he knew. And yet, sometimes all he wanted to do when faced with these behaviors was rip off his mask and yell at them. To yell as loud as he could that he was only thirteen. That he didn't deserve this. To make it clear that in this one instance, he wanted to be coddled and protected.

He respected the job of the ANBU, the position that they had honored him with. But they weren't honoring _him_ , really. They were honoring his _skills_. His genius. His clan-born abilities with the Sharingan and genjutsu.

He didn't _want_ that. He knew that his skills were needed to protect the village, that he was irreplaceable on certain missions. But even so, he wanted to be a regular kid. He wanted to play with Sasuke, to train with Sasuke, to help Sasuke earn recognition as a ninja.

He was content to stay on the sidelines, watching and helping but not being pivotal to the mission. Unfortunately, that was all others seemed to think him good for.

He wanted to point out that putting all the pressure on somebody ten to twenty years younger than the majority of them was not a good idea. What if he broke? This was the exact reason nobody was allowed to become a hunter-nin before the age of thirty – there was no one to depend on; you were alone on a solo mission, _every_ mission. And that was what they were doing to him.

Itachi was fed up with the clan that gave him this power. The Uchiha bloodline gave him the Sharingan, and the Sharingan gave him his ANBU status. If not for the twisted doujutsu, he'd have led a slightly more normal, less pressured life. He'd be able to joke around with friends closer to his level. He wouldn't feel like an outcast set upon a throne that wasn't rightfully his.

So when the elders came to him, ordering him to massacre the Uchiha clan and become a missing-nin, he said yes.

It didn't matter to him that they were using him for his skills and clan connections instead of as a person. He'd gotten used to it.

But that didn't mean he liked it.

-

\--


	6. Respect II - Itachi & Kisame

He'd been traveling with Kisame for two years now, and could confidently say that it was enjoyable, if anything.

Sure, the shark-man was bloodthirsty, but he had other, more defining attributes. He was quiet the majority of the time, content to coexist alongside Itachi. Kisame respected Itachi, respected the man's mind and control.

Kisame respected Itachi as a friend. A friend bred of necessity, perhaps, but a true friend all the same, supporting each other in their weaknesses and strengths. Kisame was strong in suiton, Itachi in katon, but that didn't make any difference. If anything, it bonded them together more.

Itachi was fifteen and Kisame was twenty-six, something that Itachi had normally shied away from since his experiences with the age gap in ANBU. But with them, it worked. Kisame treated Itachi as a peer, requesting help unabashedly when he needed it and giving help the same way.

Itachi respected him for it.

They were the most cohesive and successful partners in Akatsuki.

They were respected for it.

Itachi wasn't content with the way Akatsuki did things, nor the goals that they were aiming for.

But they had a place for _him._

And that was all he needed.

-

\--


	7. Fatalistic - Itachi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: um...disease?

He coughed, the warm red liquid making its way out of his mouth to drip onto the grass. His slender fingers did their best to catch the blood, but to no avail.

His disease was worsening.

Or was it too obvious?  
There was no easy way to halt his malady. It was fatal; that much he knew. Madara had confronted him about it years ago – soon after he had left Konoha, in fact. But it hadn't been nearly as bad back then. Some coughing, maybe. But nobody took much notice when the thirteen-year-old had paused occasionally to go into a coughing fit. Some medic nin might, but most were overtly used to the ANBU captain dealing with whatever injury he had sustained without bothering anyone else.

Uchiha Itachi had half-assed luck.

And that was that.

He couldn't do anything about it.

But what he could do about his disease was another matter. He needed some method of preserving his life and skills until such a time as he deemed fit to pass them on to Sasuke.

No way the brat deserved it, but Itachi was so used to looking out for his younger brother's best interests that by now it was reflex, even when it came to how he was going to die.

He was stronger than Sasuke, he knew that much. But with the catalyst of his illness thrown in, he knew it was possible to make Sasuke believe that he had defeated his older brother through pure skill.

Hopefully he wouldn't have to bring out Susanou, but…what was the saying…

Ah.

_All's fair in a fight to the death._

But wasn't there an alternate version?

…

_All's fair in love and war._

Well, this was certainly going to be a fight to the death…and it was also love and war.

Itachi's love for Sasuke….

…and Sasuke's war on Itachi.

Oh, yes. It was official.

Uchiha Itachi had no luck…

…and no time to live.

He was _so_ dead.

\--

-


	8. Darkness - Sasuke/Itachi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Incest

He was shoved harshly into the wall, his back forced flush to the Uchiha clan symbol that decorated the deteriorating building. Gulping, Itachi opened his eyes and cringed at the sight of his little brother panting in rage, bloodlust in his eyes.

-

He hadn't expected this.

He had lain in wait for Sasuke, sitting regally in the Uchiha throne, hands crossed over one another.

Expecting to completely overpower his little brother with his mere presence.

Suffice to say that it didn't turn out quite as planned.

-

He felt the punch a thousand times over – the result of his brother's lucky guess; a hit to Itachi's already weakened lungs would be much more severe than if Sasuke had injured a different part of his body.

Or not. _There goes my second weakness._

Sasuke had gotten his heart.

Hacking up blood was fast becoming Itachi's least favorite pastime. Especially when it just _wouldn't stop._ The blood kept coming, a new wave spilling out of his mouth with every beat of his heart.

Forced to kneel on the ground, he steadied himself with one hand and pressed the other to his heart in a weak attempt to assuage the dreadful pain.

_No, no, not now! I have to defeat Sasuke in order for this all to have been worthwhile!_

He started when he felt Sasuke's presence looming over him. Jerking his head up in fear, he looked at his brother with wide frantic eyes, Sharingan fading in and out.

The pain from his heart and lungs was interfering with his prized doujutsu. Any more and the Sharingan would falter, leaving him blind.

More pain.

Darkness, now.

Oh, _damn._

Not good. Not good at all.

_Where is he?_

Itachi gasped when he felt a light flutter of fingers over his sightless eyes.

"And what have we here, Itachi-niisan? I didn't know you were blind."

Itachi could sense the malicious grin hiding behind those words.

This was not going to turn out well.

"The all-powerful Itachi Uchiha, reduced to this. I think I like it."

_Oh, gods._

He was helpless.

Removing his fingers from Itachi's eyes, Sasuke pulled his legs out from under him in one swift movement and held him down against the ground, ignoring his struggles.

More pain. More pain, pain, pain- What?

Were those _lips?_

Oh. No. No way.

No way in _hell._

His little brother had just kissed him.

\--

-


	9. Potential - Itachi/Kakashi

He licked his lips, preparing for a wholly new sensation. Leaning toward his lover and closing his eyes, he gently touched his lips to Kakashi's and was taken over by a jolt of lust pounding through his body.

Fingering the scar over the jounin's left eye, Itachi drew back from kissing him and began to blow softly in Kakashi's ear, eliciting a soft moan from the older man.

"Is that…the best...you can do, Itachi?"

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," his impromptu lover replied. "Shall we give it a try?"

He drew back from the immobile figure, feasting his eyes on the man's muscles and sharp lines making up his lean athletic build.

Itachi was more on the slim side, himself.

But he would enjoy the difference while he could. The paralytic wore off after an hour, so he had plenty of time to enjoy the ninja's body.

He smiled, a sadistic gleam to his eyes.

Oh, yes. He would enjoy this to its utmost. It was only an added benefit that Kakashi would, too.

There was newfound potential to this dangerous paralysis poison. And coupled with his skills of stealth, he could easily subdue the tastiest ninja for…examination.

After stripping them naked, of course.

And enjoying all they had to offer.

\--

-


	10. Distraction - Itachi & Kakashi

_Slowly...Slowly….No! That's not good enough! Must make it go slower! Last longer!_

"Uh, hey, Itachi…I know that you're completely bored out of your mind and all, but eating your last dango crumb by crumb to make it more interesting is not the way to enjoy good food."

Itachi looked up, glaring at the one who had dared to interrupt him in such a manner.

_Kakashi._

" _Good_ food? I thought you didn't like dango, Kakashi-san."

"Hey, hey. Don't go getting me confused with that little brother of yours. Sasuke doesn't like sweets in the least. I like them in _moderation._ Really, Itachi, get your facts straight. Ibiki might think you're slacking if you confuse the two closest people in your life." His visible eye twinkled, laughing at the younger nin.

Itachi glared at his teammate. "Since when have you been one of the two closest people in my life? Just because we are on the same team does not mean we are close. Hell, Kakashi, _Ibiki's_ on our team and you didn't see fit to include him!"

Kakashi grinned. "Oh, he may be on our team, but he's certainly nowhere close to vying for my position as a significant other."

Itachi spluttered. "Significant other? What on earth? We're not in a relationship! You're crazy!"

Kakashi shunshined behind Itachi in an instant and placed his arms around the boy's neck, whispering in his ear. "But we sleep together, don't we?"

Itachi turned bright red and stiffened. "Kakashi-san. We sleep in the same bed because of our missions. If you insist on blowing this out of proportion, I shall have to consider assigning you to the floor and Ibiki can have the other side of the bed. It is a living arrangement, no more and no less."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, no less daunted than he was before Itachi had taken on a more threatening tone. "But you wish it was more, don't you, Itachi."

The boy gasped and whirled around, intent on punching the living daylights out of his senpai, only to encounter air.

Kakashi had disappeared on him again.

The blush clear on his face, Itachi stuffed the rest of his dango into his mouth and went over their meeting in his head.

_At least I'm not bored anymore._


	11. Sanctuary - Itachi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mental weirdness

Itachi never cried.  
Not when he was a baby.  
Not when he was a child.

Not even when he was sent to fight in the war at the age of six and his entire team was murdered before his eyes.

Itachi kept his emotions bottled up, his face a clean slate.

It was only a matter of time before he cracked.

Whenever he began to feel that complete emptiness that signified the breaking of his fragile mind, he sank deep inside himself and put his body on autopilot.  
It knew where to go.

He would make his way to the lake at the edge of the Uchiha property and sit beside it, staring into the black waters.

Blackness. Darkness. The bottom of the lake.  
He would sit there for days, thinking of nothing, just watching the shifting waters, running his fingers through the grass.

Navy blue. Sea blue. Blue, blue, blue. The middle of the lake.

He would watch the ripples on the lake, straining his senses to see, feel, _be_ the middle of the lake, so far from the bottom, the sediment of blackness, and so far from the surface, the beauty of light that he wasn't yet ready for. It would blind him yet.  
And so he stayed in the middle.

Turqoise. Crystal clear. Drinkable, breathable. Wait – not breathable yet. Close.  
He would dip his hand into the water and then pull it out, watching the water drip off the tips of his slender fingers. Clear, clear water. Beautiful. And yet still he wishes to be out of the light. It scalded his mind and made him wish for the comforting blackness of the bottom of the lake.

The surface.  
Gasping for air, remembering his responsibilities. Konoha nin, Uchiha heir, village prodigy.  
Climbing out of the water, onto solid earth, recalling that he could be attacked anywhere at any time.  
Eyes hardening, senses expanded. Far away from his black-watered comfort.

Coming back to himself, his mind sliding back in the right place, eyes narrowing.

Beginning the cycle over again. Restarting. His mind filling with emotions.  
He concealed them for both their safety, and yet they did this to him? How cruel.

But he would never cry. It wasn't in his nature.

It wasn't in the water.

\--

-


	12. Annoyances - Itachi & Sasuke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: cuteness

"Sasuke…Sasuke!"

He sighed. _Will it ever end?_

Itachi turned around and yelled across the house. "Mom! He's doing it again!"

He heard a disgruntled huff and the sound of feet making their way toward the room the two boys were in.

"Sasuke, if you don't let go right now you're going to be scolded…" Itachi reminded his little brother.

"Ita-Ita!" The three-year-old replied, a happy grin on his pudgy face.

Itachi rolled his eyes and sighed a second time. He'd swear that his brother was going to become a hairdresser when he was older – except for the fact that while Sasuke seemed to be obsessed with _his_ hair, the kid wouldn't touch anyone else's.

_Agh._

Hearing the door slide open behind him, he turned to watch his mother enter the room.

"You know, Itachi… If you didn't keep your hair so long, he probably wouldn't be so interested in yanking it."

"But mom, I _like_ long hair!" Itachi protested.

"...Apparently Sasuke does too, dear." Mikoto answered with a smile.

Itachi turned back around with a huff. "Come on, Sasuke! Let go already!"

_Yank._

Itachi groaned and rolled his eyes.

-

\--


	13. Undercover - Itachi, Kakashi, & Ibiki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: ...lie back and think of England?

Itachi groaned. _  
Oh, they are_ so _dead._

Sure, he could believe _Kakashi_ would do this to him, but _Morino_?

_Again?_

This had to be the tenth time he'd been subjected to this, and he was sick and tired of going through with it.

Sure, it made sense.  
It made _perfect_ sense.

But that didn't mean he would let his teammates get away with it scot-free, though.  
Oh, they would pay for what they'd done.

Once the mission was over.  
Once he'd got himself out of this danged _dress._  
Once he'd scrubbed his face raw of the _layers of makeup._  
Once he'd pulled the fucking _three hundred hairpins and hairpieces_ out of his hair and _threw them in the fire._

A handily-placed fire.

Right on top of his two teammates, perhaps.

Now he understood why they wanted him to grow his hair out this long.

Itachi sighed prettily, disguising his murderous thoughts with a ladylike smile and a slim hand reaching down to smooth out a fold in the eight-layer kimono that revealed far too much for his liking. No chest, of course; couldn't have the proprietor discovering that he was male. But certainly leg galore.

Kakashi had realized early on that Itachi was extraordinarily suited to be disguised as a girl during their espionage and information-gathering missions, and after the first successful try, Morino was inclined to agree.  
And as time went on, they discovered that the best place to gather said information turned out to be the town brothels. The geisha-houses were prime areas, too, but it was really the whorehouses that had the most potential.

The red-light district, if you may.

One might think bars were best-suited to the spilling of classified secrets, but all the people guarding these secrets knew better than to accept a drink from a stranger. And no matter how drunk they were, they were perfectly capable of recognizing when they were being pried for information. And anger plus heavy alcohol only led to fighting.

But all men – even the married ones, _especially_ the married ones – visited the brothels for a different kind of high.  
And, Itachi found, it was much easier to have the men accept a good drink there than at the local bars. Better company, he guessed.

Another benefit? Something that the men always felt the need to do was awe the girls they were buying. So what better way than to tell them whatever secrets or military plans that showcased their intellect or strength.

It worked surprisingly well.

 _Yes,_ Itachi mused, _brothels are perfect for collecting valuable information and gossip, at the very least._

_At the most?  
They're my worst nightmare, as Kakashi very well knows._

_Well, screw you, Kakashi,_ he thought with a grit-your-teeth-and-do-it smile toward his current patron.

-

\--


	14. Revenge - Itachi, Danzou, & Ibiki

"No, dammit!" the twelve-year-old gasped, tears running down his face and mingling with the rain. "Soujo! Answer me!" he screamed into the night, straining his ears for anything that could possibly be interpreted as a call for help.

Ignoring the hand on his shoulder that was attempting to restrain him, he gasped. _I need to find him. He has to be alive._

"Itachi… Itachi! Come on, man, I know he meant a lot to you, but we've got to get out of here!" Morino yelled at him, voice drowned out from the sound of the storm.

"No! He wouldn't go down that easily! He has to be out there! He's probably just injured! Please, Morino-san!" Itachi protested frantically, trying futilely to pull away.

Morino was silent for a moment, as if trying to make some sort of decision. When he spoke up, his voice was grim. "Soujo is dead, Itachi. Kakashi and the Hayate boy found his body down the hill an hour ago. They didn't want to tell you because they knew it would upset you and it's much too dangerous to go back and try to retrieve him. The entire area is practically a minefield."

The world spun and went black.

\--

When he came to, he was surrounded by the sterilized whiteness of Konoha's main hospital. Familiar voices made their way to his ears as he struggled to remain alert through the heavy sedatives they must've given him.

"He's a ninja, Hatake-san, he can deal with it."

_Is that Danzou…?_

"Not this, he can't. He's only twelve and he's just lost his best friend to the war. Let him be."

_Kakashi._

"The man was twenty-four, Hatake. They weren't best friends. They were aquantainces. If he wants to make… _friends_ , he can do it outside of ANBU."

Why would Danzou say that? He was the one who had encouraged Itachi and Soujo to be friends in the first place.

"Leave, please, Danzou-san. He's coming around and I don't think now is the best time to encourage him to abandon all emotion and join your ROOT, no matter how perfect the situation may seem to you."

_Morino?_

Wait. Danzou wanted him to join ROOT? But ROOT members typically went through some kind of emotional trauma that convinced them emotions would only make everything worse.

Well, that's how he heard it, anyway.

 _Emotional trauma spawned from tragedies in their lives…_  
He stopped. __  
Tragedies.  
Soujo?!?

Danzou was the one who had initially introduced them.  
Danzou was the one who had given the order for their teams to be sent on this particular mission…and had assured them it was completely safe.

It was a setup.  
Everything was Danzou's fault.

_I will bide my time, Danzou, and kill you, even if it takes my entire life._

-

\--


	15. Victory - Itachi/Sakura

Itachi glanced up as he was led through the village gates, his sightless black eyes wandering over nothing.

_Why had he agreed to this again?_

His captor was a hunter-nin, the best Konoha had.

Sakura Haruno.

He'd been her assignment, and she was determined not to fail.

After five months of searching, stalking, lurking, and information-gathering, she'd finally found him.  
And then she promptly proceeded to lose him.

It took her another three months to corner him to the point of civilized conversation.  
And civilized conversation it was.

They'd talked, and found much in common with each other.

Of course, Sakura wouldn't have believed his innocence if she hadn't already been told of it by her Shishou.

They conversed of her old teammates – oh, he knew them; he'd been sent to capture Naruto enough times and Sasuke happened to be his brat of a little brother – and his old teammates.  
She knew them as well; Kakashi had been her genin sensei and Morino was one of her chuunin exam proctors.

At one point she confessed to him of her absolute astonishment that he had normal interested and was an interesting person to be around.

From all of Sasuke's whining about revenge, she had formed a picture of him in her head of an emotionless bastard who enjoyed murder.

He snorted when she told him that, claiming that deep down, he always knew his brother was an idiot.

It took her another four months to convince him to return to Konoha; even though they had put him through the grinder and left him for dead, he still had people awaiting his return.

Sasuke (although it did take a great deal of convincing)  
Kakashi (who was still royally pissed at the Sandaime, Danzou, and the two advisors Koharu and Homura for sending Itachi out in the first place)  
Morino (ditto)  
Tsunade (who would just be happy to have another strong ninja in the village; after years of Sound and Akatsuki attacks they were desperately short-handed)

And Sakura herself, of course. (Why else would she go through all that trouble? It took her a _year_ to get him back.)

He deserved it.

The townspeople would come around eventually, as they had with Naruto a few years earlier.

Itachi had been one of their best ninja, and with Sakura working on repairing his eyes, he would be once again.

Tsunade had already promised to begin work on a cure for his debilitating disease – quite the incentive.

And so, he had agreed to be brought back by Sakura.

_He was her mission, and she had completed it._

The world was right again.

-

\--


	16. Privacy - Itachi/Deidara

"Welcome back to the world of the living, un."

Itachi blinked once and opened his eyes, seeing nothing.

_Oh._

With a sigh, he activated his Sharingan and suddenly everything flew into focus.

_Rocks?_

"What happened?" he asked dazedly.

Deidara laughed from his place at Itachi's side and gave a thouroughly unhelpful reply.

"You fainted, un."

_What? Uchihas don't faint. God dammit, Deidara, give me some clear answers!_

"Care to elaborate?"

The other man smiled mischievously.

"Okay, un. You fainted from the heat while we were making out."

_Ah. Well then._

"Sorry about that. Shall we continue?"

Deidara's eyes took on a hungry look as he eyed his lover's mangekyou.

"Don't see why not. Just remember, if you faint again I'm gonna rape you, un."

They had each other's clothes off within a minute, tossing them in a dark corner of the cave as they made up for the lost time.

\--

Zetsu rolled his eyes from his hiding place across the cavern. __  
At least they got a room this time.  
Agreed.

-

\--


	17. Ritual - Itachi & Akatsuki

Itachi sighed as he sat down and crossed his legs, shrugging off the heavy Akatsuki cloak and folding it carelessly. Laying the thick material off to the side, he pulled the hard black instrument case from under the lampstand and clicked it open, revealing an aged shamisen. Picking it up gently, he ran his fingers over its three tarnished strings, checking for weak points. Finding none, he picked up the equally aged bachi* and began tuning the beautiful old instrument.

As the sound of errant notes drifted through the surrounding caves, various members put down whatever they were doing and made their way to the common room. Furnished originally with rock, rock, and a few more stylish pieces of rock, it was deemed large enough to be used as a living room and each member was invited to add something.

Konan had brought in a card table and left it filled with sheets of white squares for her paper creations to occupy her fingers.

Deidara had a pile of clay in the corner of the room, saying that he'd rather lean on a rock than have a flammable chair, un.

Sasori had a collection of various tools and some stray puppet parts surrounding a flat pillow for sitting purposes.

Hidan and Kakuzu had pitched in for a shared table (the latter had insisted it saved money and Hidan was just happy he could carve symbols honoring Jashin into the wood) and chairs in the middle of the room.

Tobi had a pouf.

Kisame had set up a miniature sushi bar in a corner opposite Deidara's mutterings of "Bang" in a blatant contradiction of popular opinion and enjoyed the raw fish to his heart's delight.

Zetsu had put in the table lamp (plus table), murmuring something about his leaves needing light to survive. It obviously didn't work very well, seeing as he was never there.

And Itachi's contribution had been the old shamisen.

Itachi finished tuning the mellow instrument and paused, clearing his mind. His fingers traveled automatically to the correct strings and began the first song as the members filed in, dropping into their chosen places. His fingers slid over the strings delicately, creating beautiful, haunting strains of music.

From the beginning, his music had been a source of relaxation and comfort for the others. Deidara had doubted his skill at first, saying that music – especially creating it – was "A girly thing, un" and "Why would Itachi know how to play one?"

These sessions calmed him and set his mind in order. They were a point of stability and every member of Akatsuki looked forward to the sound of the shamisen calling them from their respective rooms.

They weren't scheduled or even regular, but every available person showed up.  
People were drawn to his playing. Even Pein stopped by sometimes to listen.

While in Akatsuki, the shamisen was his soul.

And Itachi was content to let it stay that way.

-

\--


	18. June - Itachi and Kakashi

"Fuuuuck…. It's too hot, dammit!" Kakashi moaned.

"Keep it to yourself or you'll wake Sasuke up." Itachi replied curtly.

His words rang true; the five-year-old was sleeping soundly in the baking heat, spread-eagled on the dark wood of the outdoor hall.

Not that Kakashi cared.

His twenty-year-old teammate was lounging on the side of the deck, supported by his left hand and fanning himself with a festival fan – something he shouldn't have been using as it was emblazoned with the Uchiwa - found in the kitchen with his other.

Itachi watched the clan symbol flash lazily back and forth on the fan quietly and ran his fingers through Sasuke's hair thoughtfully. "Why are you here, anyway?" he asked contemplatively.

Kakashi grinned indolently. "Since it's hot no matter where I go, I figured I might as well intrude on somebody who doesn't care how obnoxious I am."

Itachi smiled and leaned back on the pole behind him. "I see your point. I am too hot at the moment to actually care about your rudeness. Stay as long as you like."

Kakashi smirked and laid down, legs dangling off the side of the porch. "Thanks, friend. I appreciate it."

Itachi glanced down and watched Sasuke snort and roll over in his sleep.

His teammate wasn't fooling anyone. Itachi knew the real reason Kakashi had come over.

_Thank you for the company, Hatake Kakashi._

_And here I didn't even tell you it was my birthday._

-

\--


	19. Abandoned - Itachi and Sasori/Deidara

Itachi watched silently, his mask covering any and all emotions that were threatening to show themselves.

Normally, he had no problems tolerating his fellow Akatsuki.  
Normally, he had no problems tolerating Sasori of the Red Sand.  
And normally, he had no problems tolerating Deidara.

He actually liked them, truth be told. They brought light into the cold stone of the criminal world, and he appreciated that – as much as a mass murderer can appreciate anything.

But them together…And not just together, but really _together_ …  
He had a problem with that.  
They were meant for him, not each other.

He knew he was being selfish, but really… Anyone would be, with the scene that was unfolding itself in front of him.

\--

"Sasori…"

"Just shut up, Deidara. The faster you be quiet and stop struggling, the faster we can get this over with." The redhead glared at his partner, chiding him for his impatience.

"But Sasori-danna, you don't need to do this. I'll be fine. Kakuzu can do it, un-"

The puppet master cut him off harshly. "No! I'll do it! Kakuzu would only screw this up, Deidara! I'm better than him!"

Deidara sat back, chastened but disbelieving. "Sasori-danna? Are you…jealous, un? 'Cause normally you'd shove me off to Kakuzu without caring-"

Again, he was cut off. "Just be quiet, Dei…"

The blonde's eyes widened as he felt more than saw his partner collapse on to him, hands around his waist and Deidara's detached arm forgotten on the ground next to him.

"Oh…" He whispered and then promptly shut up, remembering his partner's brash statement.

It took a while for Sasori to summon the willpower to spill his secrets to the man he was closest to, but Deidara respected his silence and waited patiently. For some reason, being around the redhead had a calming effect on him. He would never have been this patient for anyone else.

Sasori lifted his head but kept his eyes averted from his partner's.

"I…What I mean to say, is that I've loved you ever since that first day we met in the temple. You…were so _cute_ , that I just couldn't believe it. Your attitude was playful, but proud, and I've always admired you for the ability to stay like that even in this dark organization. Most people don't think I have emotions, seeing that I'm a puppet, and I myself didn't think I had any until that day.  
But the very fact that I am a puppet is what stopped me from confessing to you every time I saw you. I would start, and then think that I was never good enough for you – that you needed something better, something more. I can't even comfort you physically or bring you pleasure with this cold body of mine."

From the other side of the wall, Itachi snorted.

_You're good enough for me, Sasori, and I'm good enough for Deidara. That's all we'll ever need._

Deidara held a finger up to Sasori's lips to stop him from going any further. "I never needed anything like that, Sasori-danna, and I love you just the way you are."

Sasori tensed. "Then…you too? You really…you really like me?"

"Of course, un!" Deidara laughed at the hopeful expression on his love's face. "Why else would I stick with you this whole time?"

"Oh, Deidara…"

\---

Their voices faded away as Itachi walked away from the room, disgusted. _How could they do this to me? I love them more than they imagine, and yet…_

A silent tear rolled down his cheek as he shunshined out of the base and far away from the two nin whom he'd thought would never betray him.

\--

-


	20. Restrained

Leaves fluttering  
Blowing in the wind  
Freedom in every shake of the branch  
Something that I don't have  
And want with all my heart.

I'm a bird in a cage  
An animal in a cage  
A human in a cage  
A weapon in a cage  
A sharingan.

They reduce me to the basest of objects  
They tell me I am imperative to their designs  
But the truth is obvious.

They don't want me  
They want my power  
They want exactly what everybody else wants.

I hate it.  
Am I allowed to hate?  
I doubt it.  
Am I allowed to doubt?

Because that is a feeling  
And I am not meant for feelings, they say  
I am meant for use  
As a weapon.

Even my emotions are caged  
They demand I keep my face a blank slate  
They have complete control.

My powers sing for them  
Like a bird...in a cage.  
That's all I am  
And that's all I will be  
For all eternity.

A songbird…for the pleasure of others.

\--

-


	21. Kirin - Itachi & Sasuke

"Nii-san?"

Itachi ignored the small voice calling his name pleadingly and continued to stare out the rain-slashed window deep into the night. Pretending to be asleep was almost too easy, especially since Sasuke was in the doorway behind him – Itachi was laying on his side in his bed and watching the bright white of the lightning as it seared through his retinas.

 _More, more,_ he thought. _If I can hurt my eyes, destroy my ability to see, Father will stop depending on me. I won't have to bear the responsibilities of the clan or the fact that I'm betraying every single Uchiha come tomorrow night. Something will turn out right. I won't have to kill them, I won't have to hurt Sasuke, I won't have to hurt the village. I…I won't have to join the most dangerous criminal organization in existence._  
I'm afraid to go through with this. I don't want to destroy people's lives. Why can't they just…not rebel in the first place? Why do they have to involve everyone I know and love? The village I know and love?  
I'm scared.

"I'm scared."

Itachi jerked up and twisted around, staring at Sasuke with apprehension and fear in his eyes. _How does he know…?_ With an intake of breath he realized that Sasuke hadn't been reading his mind or emotions at all; his little brother _was_ scared.

Of thunder.

Itachi rolled his eyes in a rare display of outward exasperation and collapsed back onto his covers, now mussed from his frantic movements. He gestured with a limp hand and spoke through the covers to his little brother. "Fine. Come on over, otouto. You can sleep with me tonight." He held back the covers to provide some space on the window side of the bed and Sasuke walked around to the proffered side, putting his hands on the mattress. Scrambling up to worm under the covers, he crawled next to Itachi, small hands going automatically to a comfortable position around his older brother's waist.

"Sasuke, you're six. Why are you still scared of thunder?" Itachi settled into his former position of looking out the window and cradled his younger sibling toward him, the boy's head tucked into his chest as if searching for warmth.

"I…It's too loud," Sasuke answered, voice muffled. "It makes me jump. I don't like it!"

Itachi shook his head as his brother's voice cracked in fear. "Paranoid of lightning. Wow, you'll be a great ninja."

Sasuke pulled his head out and sat up in indignation. "But nii-san, you were telling me just the other day that all ninjas are scared of something, and that's not necessarily a bad thing!"

_Like me. I'm scared of tomorrow._

"Sasuke, it's not necessarily a bad thing because you can't judge fear as _bad_ or _good_ in the first place. And there's always a good side. Here, turn around." Itachi sat up and turned his little brother around so they were both looking out the window.

_The good side to my fear of tomorrow means my love for Sasuke and Konoha and peace is revealed. In the same way, there's a good side to thunder. A more beautiful side._

"Otouto, next time you hear thunder, keep your eyes open instead of scrunching them closed and huddling down like normal, okay? Just watch."

Sasuke nodded hesitatingly. Almost immediately, the loud rumble of thunder made itself known, and a flash of burning white electricity tinged with blue followed the noise.

"Oh!" Sasuke let a smile creep over his face. He'd never seen that before. "Big brother, what is that? It's so cool!"

Itachi leaned forward, quietly hugging his younger brother. "It's lightning, Sasuke. It's electricity produced by the storm. You've heard of it before, you've just never seen it because you always hide away from the windows or close your eyes."

"But…" The light was still engraved in the blackness when he closed his eyes. "It's…beautiful! It really is. Is there more?"

Itachi smiled slightly at the sight of his brother's wonderment. "Yes, Sasuke. Lightning always follows thunder. Do you see what I meant when I said there's always a good side to your fears? You don't like thunder, but you can bear it because it brings with it such an amazing sight. There's a saying – 'every cloud has a silver lining' – that amounts to much of the same thing. Whenever you are confronted with something bad, there will be something good hiding just past it, like your lightning."

Sasuke stiffened as another bout of thunder rolled by, and then sighed as lightning took over the sky , illuminating the village below them and making the constant rain appear all the more beautiful. "Brother…Are there any lightning jutsus? So I could see it up close?"

Itachi chuckled, slightly startled at his counterpart's fascination with the force of nature. "Yes, actually. I don't know of many – and most are A- to S-rank - but one of my friends knows a close-range lightning-style jutsu called 'chidori', or one thousand birds. If you ask, maybe he'll show it to you."

"Really? Who? Do I know them? Is it an Uchiha?"

Itachi's thoughts soured slightly at the mention of Uchiha. "No, Sasuke. It's Kakashi-san, my teammate in ANBU. The dog-summoner with the single Sharingan? You've met him once or twice when I've come home with him from missions."

"Wow, aniki! You know cool people!" Sasuke grinned. "I wanna meet him!"

Itachi frowned slightly, but not enough so that his little brother would notice. "If you see him, you can ask him. I probably won't be going near the Hatake compound or on missions for a while."

"What? Aniki, are you ok?" Sasuke asked worriedly, his concern for his brother overpowering his obsession with the lightning.

Itachi fell back and brought his covers up, pulling Sasuke down with him. "Shhh. I'm fine. It's time to go to sleep, okay otouto?"

Sasuke snuggled in and yawned tiredly. "See you in the morning, Itachi-nii…"

Itachi had already left for training when Sasuke got up, and when he came home after the Academy, he found their clan dead and their parents slaughtered at the hand of his brother.

From then on, lightning had become a tool of revenge.

\--

-


	22. Tomatoes - Itachi & Sasuke

Itachi rubbed his forefinger along the muted shine of the tomato thoughtfully, gazing off into the distance across the garden in the back of the house. Father and Sasuke were due back any minute from his little brother's annual parent-teacher conference at the academy – it was his first year, after all; Father couldn't brush the conference off _that_ quickly, unlike everything else he did involving his youngest son.

Tossing the tomato in the air and catching it smoothly, he eyed it with distaste. The lady he'd helped across the street earlier – who also made him fetch her cat from the tree, and carry her groceries, and cook her dinner, and weed her garden – had given him a whole batch of tomatoes as payment.

He hated D-rank missions, especially now that he was a chuunin and being reviewed for ANBU. The Hokage would end up giving him them whenever he was injured, and seeing how many A-ranks they'd been assigning him…turned out to be quite often.

And he _hated_ tomatoes. It was something about the juicy, oozing red of especially ripe tomatoes – every time he cut one open, he saw blood. They triggered memories better kept locked up tight in his mental vault. Memories of the war, of things he wished he couldn't recall in quite so much graphic detail. His father praised him over and over again – 'that's my boy' – for having a photographic memory along with the Sharingan – neither related to the other but both working in tandem to bring up horrid scenes that would be every ninja's worst nightmare and gory battlegrounds that could only be described as bloodbaths from his memories. From his subconscious. From everything that made him a good, emotionless little ninja and everything that constantly and consistently ate away at his psyche.

He _definitely_ needed a psych evaluation. Look at him; not even in ANBU and already succumbing to the elements of the silent profession that destroyed the members to the point that some of them were executed so they could finally rest from the never-ending torture of insanity brought on by too little sleep and too much murder.

The village called the ANBU their silent protectors and trusted them with their lives.  
Obviously they hadn't realized that each and every member of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai was toeing the tenuous line between loyalty and insanity, and probably had been since the first mission.

He sighed and stood up, shaking his head to ward off the bad thoughts. Running his fingers through his hair, he pulled off the string holding it in a ponytail let it flutter loosely about his shoulders. His day had been only mildly stressful compared to some, but he wanted to see Sasuke. The six-year-old always made him smile and feel like he could finally relax.

His parents had never made him feel that comfortable.

Knowing Sasuke, the boy would want to know what he'd gotten from the women he'd helped. But did Sasuke even know what a tomato was? Their mother didn't normally make dishes with the red fruit since Itachi had long ago shown his revulsion. If his revulsion counted as a blank face and avoiding all eye contact with the evil food, that is.

Walking calmly toward the kitchen to dump the tomato back in the basket on the table, he sat down on a cushion and leaned on the table, head resting on his hands as if he had a headache.

He was _tired._

Listening half-heartedly to the sounds of the front door sliding open and shoes being removed, he sighed.

_Sasuke…I don't know what I'd do without you._

"Ita-nii!"

_I would die without you._

_For you._

"Anikiii! What'd you get today? You seem tired! Was it hard?" The little boy grabbed some of his brother's hair and yanked softly, trying to get his nii-san up and talking.

Sighing and letting a slight smile appear on his lips, he lifted his head and tackled Sasuke. Tickling his little brother held so much merit. And it was totally worth his father's rebukes just to see the joyous smile on the six-year-old's face.

"Itachi…"

And there it was. His father just _had_ to interfere, didn't he?

"That is highly immature. Stop rolling around on the floor and come with me. We need to discuss the fact that you've been injured far too many times for an Uchiha. You've been slipping, Itachi. I'll be in the main room. Don't keep me waiting."

_Walk out, walk out, walk out of here…_

He walked out, heading toward the room he had mentioned.

_Thank you, kami._

"Sasuke…I got you something new today. I don't think you've ever seen one before."

"What? What is it? I wanna see!"

Itachi laughed at Sasuke's enthusiasm and poked him in the forehead. "You can't just have it. You need to guess what it is, and if-"

Sasuke cut him off happily, rubbing the red spot where Itachi had poked him distractedly. "-If I can't, you'll tell me and then I can have it, I know, nii-san! Come on already!"

"Okay. Your hint is….it's edible."

"Aww! I wanted a kunai or some cool weapon! Hmph. Fine. Is it…yellow?"

"No."

"…White?"

"No."

"…Green?"

"No-"

"Gah! Help me out here!"

"…It might be in this room."

Sasuke leaped up and swiveled his head around, determined to find whatever it was he was looking for. Hmmm. It was a food, it wasn't yellow, white, or green… Oh! What were those red things?

"Itachi-nii! What are the red balls on the table?"

"They're called tomatoes, Sasuke. Would you like to try one?"

Mikoto stiffened from her place at the sink. Itachi had brought home _tomatoes_? What had happened today? The first time she had ever offered him the fruit and also been the last, as he had taken one look at the neat slices with their insides spilling out and gotten a strangled look before promptly jumping through the window. Apparently he was too traumatized by the sight that he would have rather gotten glass imbedded in his skin than wait the two more seconds it would've taken to actually _open_ the window. Turning around, she eyed her eldest son. He just gazed back innocently – it was the type of look that said, 'Don't interfere. He's mine.' Turning back to the dishes, she rolled her eyes. He'd brought them as a present for Sasuke? It was just too cute.

"Yes yes yes!"

Smiling, Itachi stood up to get a knife. Walking over to the drawer, he selected a particularly sharp one – the better it cut, the less the inside oozed – and returned to the table, taking the tomato and cutting into neat slices, careful not to let any get on his fingers. "You can eat it raw, Sasuke."

The little boy smiled and picked up a piece, taking a tentative bite. His eyes lit up as its juicy goodness sparked his tastebuds and made him drool for more.

Leaning forward, his older brother flicked out a finger and wiped off the drool that had escaped. "I take it you like it."

Sasuke's eyes flashed in euphoria and he grinned, mouth still full of tomato. "I love it! And you gave it to me! So it's even better, nii-san!"

Itachi had never liked tomatoes, but at the sight of his adorable little brother stuffing slices into his mouth and laughing, his aversion lessened a little – though it wasn't quite enough to persuade him to take a piece for himself. It did persuade him to ignore his father's summoning for the day, though, just so he could watch his little brother be happy.

_All for you, Sasuke._

_All for you._

_\---_


	23. Spontaneous - Itachi/Hana

"Iii…taaa…chiiii…"

He blinked, and then waved the noise off like it was a fly buzzing around his head.

"I..ta…chi…!"

This time he had to stop himself from crumpling the page he was currently holding lest he rip it. Couldn't they just let him read in peace?

"Itachi!"

He jerked up, realizing that the deep voice was that of his teacher's and he would be in real trouble if he didn't respond soon. "Yes, sensei?" His reply was cool, calm, and collected; everything that the Uchiha were sworn to be.

"Itachi-kun, you are a member of my class and I expect you to act like a full-fledged academy student and listen to me when I talk, so get off your high horse and put that textbook away! You're probably just looking at the pictures anyway; what a waste of a good text…" The man trailed off, looking disgruntled that he couldn't give his youngest student any real sort of punishment. If he did… Suffice to say that according to the rumors of the Uchiha clan, he'd probably be picked off in his sleep and viciously murdered.

_Goddamn stuck-up Clan ninja…_

It was quite obvious that the man hated him and everything that he represented, but Itachi never tried to provoke the man or prod the higher-ups into firing him. If he couldn't deal with a little harassment as an academy student, god knows what kind of terrible ninja he'd be when he was older.

He didn't think the teacher needed to single him out quite this much, though; the students were wary enough already of the six-year-old student in their midst – most were at least five or six years older than he was – and with a last name like his, they were even more distant. It was an unwritten rule that one should never mess with the two largest clans, and it extended to even their youngest children. Everyone in the village distanced themselves from the Uchiha and Hyuuga; the only reprieve was found in teammates later on in your ninja career, and Itachi was looking forward to that more than anything. He might be an Uchiha, but like his late uncle Obito he disliked the cold aura that surrounded the bloodline and wished more than anything to be surrounded by laughing friends and happy colleagues.

He had one more year to suffer through – one year of chuunin-level books being taken away from him on the basis that he couldn't understand him, one year of cold and unforgiving stares and gossip being directed at him, one year of too-easy subject material to suffer through – and then he would be snapped up by a jounin sensei and trained until he could join a jounin or chuunin team of his own. Or maybe ANBU. But maybe not, because ANBU was renowned for its secrecy and coldness, and even if he _seemed_ and _acted_ like he was a true Uchiha with a stick up his butt and a penchant for keeping damning secrets, he wasn't and definitely did not want to be.

He was started out of his dazed reverie when the lunch bell sounded – the signal for students to go home and see their families and eat some home-made food. Yum.

He never went home for lunch. His parents were far too busy worrying about his mother's pregnancy, and besides, the whole compound just downright annoyed him.

"Hey! Uchiha! Or can I call you Itachi-kun? You're in this year's graduate class, right? One year left? You are so awesome! I wish I was just like you - that way I could get out of this academy as soon as possible and away from all these idiots!"

He turned to the source of all the chatter – she was sitting on her haunches beside him, fingers clinging to the rough wood of the bench – and raised an eyebrow. "And yet you are in the same class as 'all these idiots'? What are you supposed to be, an unrecognized genius?"

She laughed prettily, he realized, her eyes crinkling up into happy crescents, the red fang-marks of the Inuzuka clan on her cheeks stretching up with her smile. "Hah, nah…I should be in the year ahead of mine – one below you – but my dog is still a puppy and he needs to learn the basics, so I get stuck with the brats."

"They're all older than you, you know…"

"So? They just don't appreciate true power when they see it. Wanna go out for some dango? I noticed you don't have a lunch."

Itachi paused. _Dango…?_ "I've never had it before. My parents tend to shy away from sweet things."

Her eyes widened. "Really? It's my guilty pleasure. I'll just have to make it yours too! My name's Inuzuka Hana, by the way, but you can call me Hana-chan! Let's go!"

She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the dango store on the other side of the marketplace. He ran alongside her halfheartedly, tasting her name on his tongue. _Hana…Hana-chan…Flower._ "Your name's pretty. It suits you, Hana-chan."

"Wow, you really think so?" She laughed, twisting around. "I like yours too, weasel!"

Itachi's face narrowed into an unnoticeable pout. "Uh, thanks."

She slowed to a stop and pointed to a small stand selling skewers of dango. "There it is! And you know, Itachi-kun, you're not nearly as frigid or bastard-y as the others say you are. You're really nice!"

Itachi's eyes widened appreciatively and he followed Hana as she went up to buy four sticks of dango. "Hana-chan, can we do this again? It's…really fun."

She smiled and shoved a dango into her mouth, chewing brightly. "Anythime, Ithachi-kun! You pthobably need ith, thoo!"

Itachi lifted his skewer to his mouth and took a tentative bite. "It's sweet. I like it."

Hana grinned. "Of course you like it! I gave it to you!"

\---

Even after he had left the village seven years later, he had always had a craving for dango…and a happy Inuzuka Hana.

They were his guilty pleasures, and he would treasure them until he died.

\---

\--


	24. Comfort - Hidan/Itachi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: semi-graphic sex

He was tired.

So tired that when Hidan came on to him, he couldn't even summon the will to resist.

Hidan liked it rough, and he was too used to the psychological pain of loving someone to care when it ripped him apart even more. Itachi had once been fragile, but after countless years of pain, torture, and the unbearable burden of never being able to share his pain, he had hardened.

Created a shell of himself that would be inscrutable to all but the best.

Unfortunately, Hidan was even better than the best.

"Itachi, I know you're hiding under there. Get out here so I can fucking play with the real you, bastard."

Itachi would look at him with blank eyes, not really wanting anything but wanting _something_.

Hidan was most willing to provide that _something._

"Take off your clothes and get in bed, Uchiha."

So he did.

"Spread."

So he did.

"Moan."

So he did.

"Scream my name," Hidan whispered as he trailed a wet tongue up the raven's inner thigh. "And scream it like you mean it."

And as his fingers encircled Itachi, he grinned.

Because his partner was moaning his name with a face that couldn't possibly be part of his shell.

Hidan had cracked through the barrier. And his reward?

A warm body in his bed and a compatriot to his shattered exterior.

"Itachi…"

The heir to the Sharingan looked up in question, staring at the silver-haired man with flickering red eyes.

Hidan fell to his keens before his partner and embraced him.

"Thank you."

\---

-


	25. Duty - Itachi & Mikoto

Mikoto sighed and glanced down at her eldest son from her seat next to his bed. She really wished he wouldn't push himself like this. He was only ten and was already aspiring for chuunin status; something she herself hadn't earned until she was sixteen. And she wasn't that bad of ninja, really. Fairly good, if she could say so herself. Fugaku had earned chuunin at fourteen, Shisui at fifteen. Their entire clan was made up of superb ninja, but her Itachi seemed to want to trump them all.

Leaning over and brushing his long bangs out of his face – she never did understand why he wanted his hair so long; even if it looked good it only got in his way – she bent down and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. Reaching for the washcloth that had slipped off, she dipped it in the bowl of water on the table beside her and replaced it on her son's fevered face.  
 _  
Itachi…I know that the clan is pushing you to be the genius that you are, but if it were up to me, I'd take us out to a remote village on the edge of fire and we could live there in peace. You'd never have to hurt anyone and Sasuke could grow up like a normal child. We would be so much happier, never having to live under the curse of the name Uchiha…_

A lone tear trailed down her cheek, falling to mingle with Itachi's own.

"Itachi, honey, are you okay? You're crying…"

He blinked slowly and turned to look at her. "So are you, Mother."

Mikoto let out a small gasp and brought her hand to her face, tracing a wet trail. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear, I hadn't realized that. I'm perfectly all right, I was just thinking…"

Itachi shook his head with some effort and grasped her hand, bringing it to his cheek. "Mother, you were talking out loud."

Her pupils dialated in fear and she pulled away, bringing her hands to her chest. "I was? Oh, god, if your father heard…"

Her son's arm came up and delicate fingers brushed away the tears on her face. "You were quiet enough. I just wanted to tell you that I wish that could be our life as well. But we have a duty to Konoha, and to this clan, even if we do not wish to accede to this way of life. The best we can do is protect Sasuke from the elders' wishes. I can't let him be turned into another prodigy, brought up the same way I was, even if he possesses that ability. He is ours, and we will never give him up. We will protect him with what we hate, the pride of the Uchiha."

Mikoto nodded and squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears to go away. If only she was as strong as her son – a boy that was less than half her age. "Yes. Yes, Itachi…"

\---


	26. Connection - Itachi/Kakuzu

They both lived their lives through their eyes. Always staring, analyzing, observing. Never acting until the perfect moment when the least amount of effort could yield the largest result.

Unnatural eyes.

The crimson red and jet black of the Sharingan – or as Kakuzu likes to say, the _blood_ red and _dead_ black of the Sharingan.

The pale red and vibrant green of the old ninja's old eyes – or as Itachi liked to think, the ironic combination of the sickly red of the Tsukuyomi and the complex green of new life.

Itachi's eyes were ones that had seen bloodshed and sacrifice through bleak, coal-tinted lenses, and Kakuzu's were ones that had seen countless battles and garnered more experience than the other cared to find out.

Eighteen years of blood and the labeling of 'traitor'.  
A hundred-plus years of five elements, war, and bounties.

Itachi's goal? Sasuke.

Kakuzu's goal? Money.

Itachi still _had_ something, you see, as small and young as that _something_ might have been.  
But Kakuzu had nothing except inanimate objects. He tended to hold eternal things close, relishing in their utter permanence; items and elements in and to his life that would never leave, and for most of those years money was that item. It had the ability to comfort him, support him, and take him places.  
He had nothing else…

…until Itachi stepped into his life.

The thirteen-year-old walked in, covered in the blood of his clansmen, and Kakuzu had a very hard time keeping the youth out of his mind for the next few years. It helped, though, that they never met again until he was eighteen. And the second they were left alond, black-on-red connected with red-on-green.

Something sparked, and they fell to hell together.

Kakuzu hadn't let a living thing close for nigh on sixty years, but for Itachi, he could make an exception.

_Never let go._


	27. Emotions - Itachi/Konan

_The first time the angel saw the boy, she was saddened._

There was not one physical scratch on him, but he had been hurt. He had carried out inhuman orders and killed both his family and his heart – for the sake of something he was forced to abandon. Everything for nothing, and everything for everything. Family was all, and yet family seemed not to matter.

_The second time the angel saw the boy, she was dying._

A failed mission to Kusa. It had been easy until it became impossible. She'd been hit, and now lay in refuge, waiting for backup to send the attackers into oblivion. Waiting for them to save her. And when she finally saw his face, she realized that now, _he_ was the angel and _she_ was the lowly human, gazing into angelic eyes.

_The third time the angel saw the boy, she was happy._

He had begun to reveal emotion to their members, one by one, by confusion or contentment or surprise and definitely interest. She was gratified to see, to feel these novel elements of his soul, and she was glad that she could have been there to witness these small escapes. But she smiled at him, blinking tears away, truly _happy_ the first time he let his mouth curve up a little, because _his_ first smile was meant for _her_ and _only her_.

_The fourth time the angel saw the boy, she was in love._

He was an enigma, but a comforting one. He was the only being who would dare to get close to her in anything other than a business sense, and for that she liked him. He could have been the ugliest thing on earth or the most beautiful – although she thought the he was anyway – but for surpassing the unwritten rule that no member was to touch God's Angel he was her hero. Pein was not a companion in any sense of the word, and she missed _people_.

_The fifth time the angel saw the boy, she was lonely._

He came to her in a lull of silence, at the top of a water tower in Ame, and simply sat down. Sat down, huddled close, and shared warmth. Body heat, shared feelings, intertwining emotions, and they served to tell her something: She was his angel, and he was hers. In this oppressed world where neither could be what they wanted to be and neither could do what they truly wanted to do, they had each other. And each other was all that mattered.

In a dying world, and angel glimpsed a boy, went after him, and held on. And in return, the boy turned around and embraced her, pulling her to him and binding them together.

_Forever._

\--

-


	28. Practice - Itachi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: crack turned serious

It hurt...  
But it had to be done.

For Sasuke.  
For Konoha.  
For himself.

For all of them, he had to die.  
He was going to die.

But otouto wasn't that stupid. He needed to be provoked. He needed to see... He needed to see that his beloved older brother was really nothing like he had been years ago. He needed to be fooled into thinking that Itachi was either completely insane or extraordinarily pleasured by pain and highly motivated to kill. And the only thing that could possibly accomplish that would be an outburst of the worst kind.  
Passionate. Emotional. Twisted. Warped.  
Painful.

"New light..." he whispered. Glancing around the dimly lit hideout to make sure nobody had snuck up on him, he clenched his fist in determination and tried out his new face.

And laughed.

Laughed at his pitiable situation. Laughed at his encompassing sorrow. Laughed at the plain fact that he, espionage agent, shadow operative, and S-class criminal, would even need to lower himself to such a pathetic situation in the first place.

Surprisingly enough, that laugh sounded just about right.

Bringing it all together, though, would be the hardest thing he had ever done, and to present it to his reason for living? Sasuke would be horrified, but so would he.  
Stifling a choked sob and ignoring the flickering candles, he wrapped up his performance in front of his audience with a stressed slump of his shoulders and a deep breath.

" _You, Sasuke! You will become my new light!_ "

On the rocky protrusion in front of him, his summon let out a portentous caw that echoed through the empty cave.

\--

-


	29. Timeslip - Itachi & Naruto

The sun had just peeked over the horizon, bathing the landscape with its stunning golden rays, and Naruto was stunned. Of all the things that he had expected, remembered, and prepared himself for before this trip, this hadn't even crossed his mind.

From his perch on top of a tree, he watched silently as the black-haired prodigy wove through his daily katas, shinai in hand.

This was a private place. He knew he was stretching his chances of being found out by even being near the clearing, here on top of the mountain, but he simply couldn't summon the will to tear his eyes away. He was entranced. The concentration the boy was focusing toward his exercises was transforming the every-day actions into something beautiful.

The boy finished the last stage of his workout smoothly and stood up, shocking Naruto from his trancelike stupor. Turning toward the tree the older teen was perched in, he paused and crossed his arms. "I know you're up there. Why are you here?"

Naruto swore softly. This was just not his day. First he woke up and discovered that his pantry had a profound lack of ramen – that alone ruined most of his morning. And then when he was moping over having to go shopping to get breakfast, Jiraiya's stupid toad had landed on him and told him that ero-sennin was looking for him and that he should report to the Hokage's office at once. Once he'd gotten there, he'd received an emergency brief on an S-ranked retrieval mission to the past. After he'd replaced his eyes back into their sockets and pulled his jaw up from the ground, he was plopped into a seal-circle and sent on his way. Of course, it was just his luck that he'd land smack in the middle of a pond. And after he'd dragged himself out, he'd come upon this awesome kid that _just so happened_ to be the most heinous criminal Konoha had seen in the last few decades. And then the kid had demonstrated exceptionally advanced chakra-control skills and sensed him.  
His life was shit.

"Are you going to sit up there or come down already?" the voice called up impatiently.

Naruto sighed and jumped down, making an attempt to look as imperious as possible. Too late he realized that while his attempt might have been pretty good, he was up against an Uchiha – the masters of silent imperiousness.

"Um, hi."

Itachi just stared at him.

Sighing, the blonde tried again. "Sorry I interrupted you. It was an accident; I'm a little lost. Could you tell me where I am?"

The eight-year-old eyed him strangely and then pointed behind him. "We're on top of Hokage Mountain. Konoha's that way."

Naruto's eyes widened as he processed the raven's words and mentally repositioned himself on his internal map. "Oh, I see. Thanks, kid." Starting off toward the direction Itachi had indicated, he paused when a voice called out.

"If you're heading for the village, I'll go with you." Itachi ran to the teen's side and started walking. "What's your name?"

The blonde started again and set a smooth pace, looking over at the child next to him. "You're awfully trusting."

Itachi raised a childish eyebrow. "I make it a point to trust ninja from my own village. "

Realizing that his headband was still on, Naruto laughed softly. "True. I'd tell you my name, but I'm on a top-secret mission from the Hokage her-…himself." He almost hadn't caught his mistake in time. Fortunately, the young Uchiha didn't seem to care all that much – he was only eight, after all; he might have been a genius but there was a limit to his attention similar to any child his age.

Switching the topic, Itachi started talking. "I'd rather go on a mission than do this every day. Father works me so hard no matter what. I'm really quite tired of it all."

Naruto frowned. "What would you rather be doing instead?"

They cleared the last stand of trees and came out on a rocky area overlooking the village. Turning and walking over to the side, Itachi located the steep stairs winding hundreds of feet to the ground and started down them. "To tell the truth, shinobi-san, I'd much rather be an ordinary civilian. Maybe a dango-seller – that would be fun. I'd get to meet interesting people and eat all the dango I could stand!"

Naruto smiled at the youthful enthusiasm – so different from the Itachi of his time. "Then why don't you?"

Itachi sighed and looked back at the blond. "Father would never let me. As clan heir I have 'certain duties that must be fulfilled no matter what' – that's what the elders always say, at least." Pausing to drag his hand along a well-worn section next to the rickety staircase, he sat down suddenly. "It's times like this that I'd rather not be an Uchiha. I want friends, but they all stay away from me. I want dango, but Father says that sweets are bad for me so I can't have any. Everything I want, I can't have. Father won't even let me hold Sasuke-chan, and he's already two years old!"

Naruto sat down next to the frustrated boy and gave him a loose hug. "Itachi, you probably won't see me again for many years, but remember that you will always have a friend in me, okay?"

The blonde had lived his life by following his emotions, and he'd be damned if he didn't stay on track now. They were telling him to help the kid, to prop him up, to lend him support – and that's just what he intended to do.

"Itachi, would you like to do me a favor?"

The youth glanced up. "How?"

The jinchuuriki took a deep breath. "Well, I know a little boy in an orphanage who will need your support over the next few years. He's mistreated and everybody hates him because of the circumstances surrounding his birth."

The black eyes widened in sympathy and a small noise escaped his mouth. "He's like me, then – it's because of how we were born. Me in Uchiha, and him…?"

He was violating the Third's most concrete rule by doing this, but it had to be done. Giving Itachi somebody similar to himself to support and comfort would bring out more confidence and less negative emotions over the years. "The Kyuubi no Yoko is sealed within him, Itachi. Do you know what that means?"

The answer came immediately. "Sealing a kunai into a scroll does not make the scroll a kunai."

Blue eyes widened as a breeze ruffled blonde locks. "You…know who I'm talking about, don't you?"

"Naruto Uzumaki. The adults don't think I listen, but I do. All of them hate him for a stupid reason."

"Then you'll do it?"

"As much as I can, shinobi-san. Even if I don't get a chance to follow my dreams, he should be able to."

Naruto smiled. "Just remember not to neglect your little brother, Itachi. I'm sure he'll look up to you like no one else in a few years. But thank you for doing this for me – and for him, too." Standing up, he extended a hand to the boy and smiled. "I enjoyed our conversation today, but I'm afraid both of us need to be going now. I need to deliver a certain scroll and you need to be getting home."

Grabbing onto the tanned hand, Itachi pulled himself up and followed the older boy down the stairs. "Thank you for talking with me. It means a lot."

The blonde smiled at the child. "If someone had stopped to talk to me like this when I was younger, I'd have felt the same way. Everybody needs a little support now and then; it's nothing to be embarrassed about. It helps more than anyone could imagine."

Itachi nodded and bowed as well as he could on the steps before running down them enthusiastically.

Naruto shook his head and grinned. "He really was a child once, wasn't he. I just wish he'd stayed like that forever." Turning and starting a sequence of handsigns, he shunshined inside Hokage Tower's secure library and walked through the stacks until he pinpointed the musty old scroll Tsunade wanted. Sliding it out of the self and replacing it with a near-perfect – but empty – replica, he tucked it into his hip pouch and flashed out of the building, readying himself for the trip back to his time. He'd violated at least twenty of the rules Tsunade had set for him – most concerning speaking and showing himself to anyone – but it had been worth it, if only to meet Uchiha Itachi in his purest form.

_If only he'd stayed that way._

\---

\--


	30. Takeover - Madara/Itachi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: ...kind of uchihacesty?

Long, slender fingers came out from behind him and reached to caress his cheek in long, gentle strokes, carefully making sure to avoid jostling his glasses.

Itachi ignored them.

Pulling his tie through its last knot and giving it a quick tug to straighten it out, he appraised himself in the bathroom mirror. Long black lashes framing jet irises shining with hidden intelligence through rimless glasses paired with bangs of silky black hair fluttering gently overhead, tempted by the light breeze that was currently swirling around the room. Pale features bred from a lineage of the upper-class instead of sallow from staying inside all the time. Strong cheekbones highlighting the overall structure of his face. No blemishes or scars – just the long lines that ran out from underneath his eyes that were the result of too many stressful nights after the assassination of his parents and subsequent turnover of the family company to him. His hair brushed over wide shoulders clad in an expensive Armani suit and fell to just below his shoulder blades, although at the moment he had it pulled back in a loose ponytail. His tie was a deep gray, bringing the utter black of the suit and the stark, pressed white of the collared shirt together smoothly.  
Altogether his normal appearance, he surmised. Although with him, 'normal' seemed to mean 'prime material' to the husband- or boyfriend-seeking women that clustered around him day after day. It had become apparent to him soon after taking over the company that even an elevated, highly isolated position could – or would – not stop them. In any case, they refused to leave him alone.  
Of course, his lover had soon clarified where their boundaries lay. Itachi was officially _his_ territory and no one else's, and he made that abundantly clear everywhere they went. He followed the Uchiha around constantly and often neglected his own duties in the process.

"Oh, don't be so cold, Itachi. Turn around so I can see you properly; I don't like looking over your shoulder."

The fingers came up to slide over his mouth softly and the raven brought up a hand to grasp the other's wrist in, pushing it aside and turning to his lover in a smooth movement. "I am attempting to ready myself for work…something you should be doing as well, lest you be late for your conference. Again."

"Oh, my, did I forget to tell you? I have a day off today. The conference was canceled late last night, so I have no pressing engagements…except you, my love. Won't you stay here with me?"

Itachi sighed and closed his eyes, leaning forward and resting his head against the taller man's chest tiredly. "Please believe me when I say that I would like nothing more than to do that, but I have a company to run and I can't stay – nor can you come with me today."

The hands came up to pull the raven into a gentle hug. "That's too bad, sweetheart. I had plans for today. Are you absolutely sure?"

Itachi pushed away slightly and reached up to pull his lover's head down, capturing his full lips in a needy kiss, full of want and love. Swiping his tongue over lips, he pulled away to take a breath. "Yes. My little brother is going to show up today to contest his right to the company. He's been planning this encounter since our parents were killed when he was seven and It's been his only ambition in life. I believe he plans to take all control of Kekkei Genkai, Inc from me and utterly diminish me in front of the world of business. He wants to make sure I lose all of my power and influence, and to tell the truth? I'm going to let him. I love him too much not too, and if he doesn't accomplish this then he'll have nothing else in life." Wrapping his arms around the man's neck, he continued softly. "Will you support me in this?"

A slow nod.

"Thank you, Madara. You have no idea how much this means to me."

\---

\--


	31. Hidden - Itachi, Mikoto, & Shisui

"Get back here, you brat! You're not getting away from me!"

The four-year-old feet pounded through the halls, determined to escape punishment. Skirting a corner, he came to the open-air hallway and leapt out into the yard, heading for the fence. There was a little hole underneath the fence behind his mom's rhododendron bush that he knew he could fit through – he used it almost every day, after all, whenever his mother was after him for some inane mistake he'd made or sock he'd left on the ground.

He'd never understood why his mom was so strict. Shisui's mom was really very nice to him, and aunt Haruka was one of the kindest people he'd ever met. But his mom beat him for making the smallest mistake – she even came after him when it wasn't his fault at all! If she pricked her finger on a needle left behind in her sewing set or if she accidentally broke a dish, she'd blame it on Itachi.

A threat came from behind him. "If you go through that fence I'll send uncle Shio after you!"

Ignoring her and wriggling through the hole, he popped out behind another bush on the other side. She'd never get him out here, but his uncle Shio was an ANBU and sympathetic to her cause.

Running towards the training grounds in fear, he caught up with Shisui on his usual morning walk and grabbed his sleeve, dragging him along as fast as he could manage. "Come on, I've gotta get out of here – mom'll set Uncle after me!"

His cousin cringed and sped up, turning to swing Itachi onto his back so they could remove themselves from the area as fast as possible. "What'd you do this time, gaki?"

Itachi shook his head and buried his face in the seven-year-old's hair, shoulders shaking from suppressed tears that had finally decided to make themselves known. "I missed the stupid trash can when I was throwing away my old homework and she started yelling at me! I hate her so much!"

Shisui turned his head to regard the child sadly. Itachi really didn't deserve his lot in life, and all he could do to help was get the kid away from his parents on occasion. Which, unfortunately, turned out to be nearly every single day. His mother was insane, and no one wanted to admit it. Itachi wasn't an unwanted child and he wasn't an idiot, so there wasn't even a twisted reason for her assault of him. Everybody knew about it, nobody understood it, and no one could stop it.

But Shisui, _Shisui_ could protect from it, and he took his job seriously.

He loved his baby cousin, and he would die for him. He would help the heir to the Uchiha no matter what it took.

He lived solely for Itachi.

\---

\--


	32. Selfish - Itachi

Nothing you could have said would have stopped me. Nothing you could have done would have made me forget what I had done to you. Nothing you could have forgiven me for would have changed my mind.

I died for me.

I died for my own sake, not yours. What Madara has told you was a lie. You should know better than to believe him, my dear brother.

I was weak.

I couldn't take the guilt. The guilt of killing my own clan, the guilt of sacrificing one to save many. The guilt of lying to you, torturing you endlessly through the years.

You are the stronger brother, Sasuke. Not the spare. _I_ was the spare. _I_ was the expendable brother. You lived through the years, thriving on hate and sucking in power like no other. I lived through the years, wasting away. Wasting my body, my power, and my time.

I died to save myself the effort of living, of feeling, of loving you. I didn't make your life harder, I made your life worth living. You value your bonds now, don't you?

Just because you don't form any doesn't mean you don't appreciate them.

I formed one with you and then twisted it beyond recognition. We were brothers, then enemies, than brothers. You were a brother, an enemy, and an avenger. I was a brother, a guilty soul, and a corpse.

I was never worth anything.

It was all you. You had everything, so I must confess that I never gave you a second thought after I left. I simply did what I had sworn to myself to do, ten years ago, and after I had completed that duty I could escape myself.

Because if there is one thing I would never have done, it would be to break a promise that I had made to myself. Never you, Sasuke.

Me.  
Always me.

_Goodbye._


	33. Reform I - Itachi & Tsunade

A silence.

"Wait, what?"

Another voice chimed in. "You can't send us off to do something like that!"

A firm voice, an order from a constantly harassed Godaime that was forced to make impossible decisions. "I can and I will. Dismissed."

\---

Itachi was furious.

The hokage… no, that _woman_ had needlessly endangered the lives of two of her best ninja without hesitation!

He usually refrained from being pissed off to the point of wanton destruction and chaos, but he knew that Tsunade-hime deserved it this time. Pausing in his mildly destructive thoughts, he completed his last shunshin and left not-space for the last time, landing neatly in the middle of the monthly jounin briefing – that, coincidentally, the hokage presided over. Staring around at the various nin surrounding him, he gave Asuma a friendly glare – smirking when the man flinched slightly – and dropped his load, ignoring their annoyed yelps on contact with the concrete. Stalking over to the Hokage and poking her in the collarbone angrily, he let her watch him warily for a minute – fully guarded – before letting his voice become deadly calm.

"What the hell were you thinking, _hime_?" He made sure to infuse the correct amount of mocking sarcasm into the word. "You sent a jinchuuriki and a man with both an insanely rare kekkei genkai and a three billion ryo price on his head to _Stone_. And to a rogue-nin _black market_ , no less. Are you _insane_?!" He paused to let it sink in and then continued. "I found them asking around about Akatsuki in ANBU-worthy disguises – but of course, most of the ninja who sulk about in that section _are_ retired ANBU – just like _me._ I had to drag them out and once I had, I managed to get them to tell me that, what a _coincidence_ ," he hissed savagely, fully reminding all present of his S-class status, "they were after my head." Straightening his shoulders and stepping back, he crossed his arms and raised his voice. "You've got my head, Tsunade. I'm here, if not in the exact state you desired – namely, dead. So what are you going to do?"

The slug princess reeled back, speechless. She honestly hadn't expected this. She had known that it was dangerous to send them on such a mission, but for her prize shinobi to fail this spectacularly… It was clear that Konoha was falling behind, and fast. Which meant that they needed a new system, a new ideology, and most importantly – if she was going to keep missing things like this – a new hokage.

Well, why not.

Clearing her throat and shaking off the last of her nervousness, she exhaled and looked directly into the bloody red of the missing-nin's eyes.

"Itachi, I'm going to make you hokage."

\---

\--


	34. Reform II - Itachi & Konoha

Itachi walked along the road, his black hokage flak jacket unzipped and slightly open due to the rather warm weather they'd been experiencing lately.

"Hey, hokage!" A police member yelled happily from the top of a nearby building. "Have a good day!"

The raven-haired man smiled at the pointless gesture and quickly lost himself in thought.

After Tsunade had abruptly turned over leadership of the village to Itachi in a highly unconventional move, he'd brought in Shikaku Nara as his advisor and then promptly ignored everything the man had recommended, turning the village into an efficient and wealthy ninja paradise.

He might have been a missing-nin for years, but he was still an Uchiha and he knew how to live properly with an excess of wealth. (Speaking of Uchiha, he'd gotten used to Sasuke sending him weekly messages promising death and despair, and after he'd taken a harem to repopulate the clan, they'd only gotten more frequent. Hey, it wasn't like Anko and Kurenai minded sharing…) He'd altered the uniforms so that his vest was black and the jounin version was dark red, chuunin blue, and the genin bright magenta (to increase their incentive to be stealthy; no self-respecting boy over the age of nine would be caught dead in the color). A nin would only change vests after he or she was promoted, so you were stuck with it for a while. Naruto's, though – by the boy's insistence – was bright orange.

The Academy now taught both pre-genin and genin – pre up to water-walking and genin up to advanced C-class elemental jutsu – and he'd established an institute of higher learning for chuunin who were aiming for jounin. Dango had become the national food of Fire Country and crows the national bird, both with a sensible addendum that made them change in accordance with the next hokage's favorites. The Uzumaki had become an official ninja clan along with the Haruno and the Hyuuga had been deprived of both their clanship and caged bird seal. He'd also put into place an act that decreed that all jounin or above had to be married within six months of promotion – chosen or arranged, whichever came first – so their skills would be passed in to the genes of the next generation. Nobody had raised a fuss about it yet, so it was working fairly reliably.

The village had been peaceful but energetic the past five years, and he hoped it would continue that way.

A voice interrupted his thoughts, bringing him out of his musings. "Hokage, there's another letter from your pest of a little brother!"

Itachi lifted an eyebrow boredly. "What's he ranting about this time?"

"He's mad about the birth of your fifth child. I actually think it's the same argument he had for one, two, three, and four, too."

The raven snorted. "I'm not sure whether to continue leading him on or to break down and tell the brat that I'm actually on number seven now."

"Either way, he'll still send you letters. I think he's addicted."

A grunt. "I try to look at it as friendly correspondence. Just tell me when he plans to come back with his own harem."

"Never, I hear. Apparently he can't get it up, sir."

Itachi laughed – and all-too-common occurrence nowadays. "What a perfect way to end the day. Go and tell Naruto and Sakura the news and then to join me at the dango shop, will you?"

Watching as the man nodded his assent and smiled brightly., speeding off, the Uchiha sighed contentedly.

What a wonderful life.

\---

\--


	35. Troublesome - Itachi/Anko

"Hey, hot stuff."

Ignoring the well-oiled arms wrapping around his midsection, Itachi continued with his paperwork. "Hello, Anko."

He could easily imagine the pout that was probably on her face. "What, no friendly banter?"

He sighed and shifted a pile of ANBU application forms to the other side of his desk. "I was actually considering not dignifying your greeting with a response, so consider yourself lucky that I replied at all. You're interrupting my work."

"Ooh, work? Is it something confidential? If it is, can I see?" She leaned over his shoulder and stuck her tongue out when he made no move to cover up the neatly printed words. "Oh. Application forms." A pause. "Wait, is mine in there? Did you go over it already? Was I accepted?"

"If you'd stop shaking my shoulders and let me continue, I might just tell you." he gasped out. Did she really have to jostle him that much in her excitement? He waited for her to calm down and then sighed again, signing his name to the last form and replacing his pan back in its holder. "Yes, I already went over yours. You were the only kunoichi that signed up this term; I think you scared the rest off." Ignoring her agonized snort at his insult, he straightened his papers and stood up from the chair before pushing it in.

Anko tugged at his sleeve annoyedly. "Hey, Itachi, you never said if I got in or not-"

"Yes, you insane woman, you got in. Impressive for one so young, and all that. Happy?" Itachi shook his head and proceeded to walk out of his small office towards the main lobby where he could hand the forms off the his commanding officer. "Of course, you still have to pass the physical trials-" he pause and decided to change what he was going to say in response to the deadly glare she was sending his way, "-but I'm sure you'll do just fine. We could use another twisted, sexy, sadistic bitch like you in the ranks..." he muttered, trailing off. _Like Tsume and Hana aren't enough..._

Anko smiled happily. "I know, right? I'm so perfect! You think they'll send me out on a brothel mission soon? I love those - you get sex and blood all rolled up into one tasty dango stick! Have you done any of those, Ita-chan?"

"Kill me now."

Anko looked over at him quizzically. "What was that?"

Itachi rolled his eyes.


	36. Curiousity - Itachi & Deidara

"Gods above, Deidara, this is why I don't like working with you! Can you stop talking for even a second?" Itachi stressed. That idiot had annoyed him to the point that he had taken a wrong turn a few miles back and now he had absolutely no idea where they were. Unbelievable! He didn't see how Sasori ever put up with the young blonde.

"Hmph. Fine. Where are we now?" Deidara pouted, not even bothering to examine his surroundings from his vantage point on his bird. He was just following Itachi on one of his more boring creations - a low-to-the-ground type that could hover using chakra. It seemed to be a little shakier than usual, though... Was one of his hand-mouths malfunctioning? It would suck ass if he had a cavity in his _hand_.

Watching his partner bend down to look at his right hand more closely, Itachi released a grunt of frustration. "I do not know, but there is some kind of odd structure ahead that I unfortunately cannot see all that well. Please go ahead and do a little recon to make me feel like you're actually useful on this team." The blond rolled his eyes and gave his bird a little nudge with his heel, spurring it into higher and faster flight until Itachi could only make out a blur hovering over the aforementioned buildings. He watched the bird dip down a couple times before finally coming to a landing inside the building. _Do they have open ceilings?_ Well, either way, if Deidara was caught it wouldn't be a pinch of guilt on his conscience, so he went over to a tree and sat down on one of the roots, leaning back against the rough bark. The blonde idiot would probably be annoyed when he came back, but what the hell, he needed some sleep.

-x-

"Oi! Uchiha! Get the hell up and take a look at what I found!" A tongue waving in front of his blurry eyes was what Itachi woke up to, and he sighed and ran a hand through his hair before standing up.

"Get your hand out of my face before I cut it off, please. And preliminary report on what you saw first, not the results."

Deidara snorted. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right. It was some old ruin, totally deserted and all that shit. Some old clan's secret hideaway, probably. I almost thought it was an Uchiha place but then I took a look around and there were no fans or anything and I figured that your clan was way too arrogant and proud not to have that kind of thing," he snickered. "But there was some kind of weird-ass altar in the middle of one of the main rooms with a scroll on top, so I did some checks for traps and dangerous seals and then just grabbed it and came back. You want to check it out?"

Itachi watched him withdraw it from his pack and held out a hand in curiosity. "Why not. It might be some kind of teleportation jutsu or something helpful to our situation." He accepted it from the blonde and brought it closer to his face in order to examine it thoroughly. There, on the front seal. It was something he didn't recognize, but there was a little diagram with the symbols for male and female and a double-ended arrow in the middle. _Does this jutsu require both sexes to complete it?_

Deidara nudged him. "Well, go ahead."

The raven shook his head in exasperation and broke the seal, unfurling the scroll and taking in the handsigns. "We should probably both do these at once – if it _is_ some kind of transportation jutsu – which is unlikely but always possible – we will both end up in the same place." After memorizing them with his sharingan, he handed the scroll to his partner. "You can read off of that. Ready?" With a nod from the younger, they both ran through the sequence. At completion, a cloud poofed into existence, surrounding them and prompting Itachi to look down and around as soon as it gave the pretense of clearing. "Deidara, I sincerely hope that you found a second scroll that might be put to use in reversing this godawful technique."

The blonde shook himself out of her stupor and pointed a painted finger at her partner. "This! This is all your fault, you and that stupid Uchiha curiosity! Agh! What are we gonna do now? I can't go back to Sasori like thiiiis!" she whined, poking her boobs.

Itachi ran his hand along his rather curvaceous body and decided that he agreed. "Yes, I would never hear the end of it from Kisame. He loves this kind of thing. Is your answer to the reversal scroll a 'no'?"

"No, no, no, no, and nooooo! I'm too young to die!" the bombed cried. "And I hate women!"

"Well, you're one now, so get used to it. It rather reminds me of my days in ANBU, actually. Very nostalgic." He commented, turning his head to look down at his newly-plumped-up ass and patting it with a hand.

"You're insane!"


	37. Reality - Itachi & Itachi

"Please."

"I cannot."

"You _must_."

"I have no choice."

Talking to himself, Itachi decided, was like talking to a wall. Had he really been this stubborn? This emotionless?

"Look, I know what you're going through here-"

The younger Itachi snorted. "No, I don't think you do. And even if you have some inkling, it will be erased within the hour because you will be dead by my hand."

The twenty-one-year-old groaned. This farce - pretending to be an older, nameless relative that had discovered the plot - was getting annoying. He supposed he must've been getting on in age, to not have thought this through enough. Maybe Kisame was right and he should just go retire in peace. Get a wife, spawn some little offspring who would never bear the Uchiha name. Ugh. Even the thought of it bored him.

"Okay, how about this. I know you're planning to spare the brat Sasuke – don't ask how, it's obvious enough – how about you go pick him up from school later and _I_ will kill everybody here and then disappear."

The thirteen-year-old looked at him suspiciously. "Who are you, anyway? What is your name? How do you know every little intricacy of this mission? And why would you offer such a thing?"

The taller nin grunted. "My name…It's Madara Uchiha. Don't ask why, my parents were probably drunk when they named me after a traitor." _Yes, give the story some personal credibility._ "I can't tell you how I know the facts of your mission, but rest assured nobody else knows. I'm offering this so you don't have to grow up as a missing nin with the person and village you love most hating your guts. I'm doing this so you don't have to join a criminal organization – insider info can go screw itself – and I've done this sort of thing once before for a mission and have the emotional balance to recover from it, whereas you are as innocent as a newborn babe in comparison. I know you are strong, so take that strength and protect your village from the inside."

The younger looked at him curiously. "You have thought about this."

"Yes."

"And you would kill your entire family, parents and elders, women and children, and then leave without ever saying goodbye or showing your face again."

"Considering that the alternative is to die myself, yes."

"You will have the opportunity to betray my intentions to the village or to escape halfway. I cannot trust you."

"I will not. And after I have slaughtered the clan, I will go on to kill the real Madara, you have my word as a shinobi of Konoha."

"You do not swear on the Sharingan?"

"Neither do you, _taichou_."

"I suppose I have no choice but to trust you in this. I care too much for my brother to leave even when I have an option such as this."

"I promise to fulfill your mission. And I believe you should know, Danzou will salvage every single one of our clanmembers' eyes for his own use. Keep an eye on those bandages, will you? Since I won't be around to stop him."

The young version of himself nodded. "Yes."

"Run along, now, it's beginning to become dark out and Sasuke will need to be stalled for at least an hour."

"I will." The ANBU turned, poised to jump to the roofs, and then paused. "And Madara… though I suspect that is not your name… thank you. This means much to me."

The elder Uchiha nodded, watching as the boy moved toward the Academy in the darkening sky. "I know."

Turning back to the bridge where Shisui was drowned, he walked up to its peak and stared out at the lit compound across the river. His mission now remaining: Murder the Uchiha, travel to Stone to find Madara and end his pitiful existence, and if he was still alive after that to reverse the effects of the time-travel jutsu of Sandaime's that he was borrowing. Then, he could lay back and enjoy the ride – it wouldn't take long to find out how much had changed with that one difference in his past.

But now, he had a clan to extinguish.


	38. Bonds - Itachi, Kakashi, & Naruto

The rhythmic beating of his feet against the ground soothed him more than the female running beside him ever could. She had the most annoying penchant for running her mouth off, and although he understood that it was entirely out of concern, it still got on his nerves. It didn't matter if his brother had gone to Orochimaru; nothing ever made him want to hear her murmured condolences and bits of worry.

If only Sasuke had stayed with Naruto!

The plan had been made years ago, but only his fool brother would be childish enough to disregard what was best and go on his lonely way. Now Itachi's position in Akatsuki was compromised and Sasuke was plunk in the middle of the snake's den. Sasuke and Naruto were meant to stay together; Sandaime had seen to the first steps when he had placed them on the same team. It had been up to his vagrant brother, though, to continue that association, and he had completely failed.

They were each other's bonds; the connection that Itachi and Minato could never have been.

He had promised the Fourth, minutes before his fiery sealing at the hands of the Shinigami, that their legacies would stay together. That their bond would never be broken! His defection from Konoha was based solely on the two boys – he had vowed before Sandaime that he would only stay away as long as Sasuke was safe and living in the village. Now everything was jeopardized, and because Tsunade and Kakashi wouldn't know whether he was still loyal, he had to place everything on the line and head back to his home.

Both Murphy's Law and the phrase catch-22 came to mind.

Because everything and anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and no matter whether Itachi stayed in Akatsuki or schlepped back to the village in ANBU regalia, he'd be targeted and enemies would always be after him. He wasn't undercover anymore, but no matter, because the only person that would ever regard him as an ally after this mess was dead. Naruto, too, had been a potential ally, for all that he was unpredictable, but with the mess Kisame and Jiraiya had made of their meeting a month ago the situation was now unsalvageable.

And god _damn_ would that woman ever stop talking!

Konan has insisted, in her typical worried way, that she come along with him; if worst came to worst, she claimed, he could use her as persuasion and hand her over in exchange for his safety. As if he needed to depend on an enemy. But she hadn't listened, and by the time he'd roused from his thoughts and realized he was already over the border, she'd been his ever-persistent trail of goldfish droppings. He didn't need her, he didn't _want_ her, and why the hell wasn't she with Leader like she normally was? What had possessed her to leave the hideout to follow his doomed soul?

Women.

Minato had agreed with him when he had voiced the same comment at the burdgeoning age of four and a half. _Yeah_ , the tall blonde had agreed, _I know exactly what you mean._ Kushina and Mikoto had been Konan's predecessors as worriers of his well-being, and sometimes all three just really pissed him off. He knew that he was supposed to be emotionless and patient, but…you know, fuck that. He had a brother to knock sense into and a jinchuuriki to save; he couldn't afford to waste time thinking about what nags women were!

Time was something he needed more of.

Especially now as the village gates, with their giant 'an' - which needed repainting, by the way – came into view, its miniature army of warriors shifting like a mass of ants around the ramparts and check-in booth. Shrugging a shoulder to the paper-user at his side and not bothering to check whether she acknowledged, he went into the Konoha-specific shunshin and shifted through the not-space at the gate to appear on the other side, still moving at a run. Ignoring the frantic noises coming from the entrance, he pinpointed Kakashi and Naruto talking to the Hokage and activated another Shunshin, appearing right next to him and sure this time that the blue-haired pest was gone.

"What the fuck, Itachi," Kakashi greeted cheerfully. "Why the hell did you pick now to appear?"

Naruto supported that statement with a beautiful ball of chakra, spinning at speeds Itachi was sure he wouldn't care to experience, and a deadly glare. "Because, goddammit, my little brother has gone and made and idiot of himself and _I want him back_. And you will help me achieve that, you lackadaisical pervert. You can help too, blondie, your dad would approve."

Well, that wasn't the first time he'd been punched, but normally it was the petite hand of an enraged woman and not the rasengan-enforced callouses of a heavy-hitting genin.

"Thanks, Uzumaki, I love you too." He groused rubbing his stinging cheek with his hand. "Are you coming or not? You have a bond to enforce."

But Naruto was already gone.

-x-x-

-x-


	39. Emphasis - Itachi

For so long he'd stewed in hate. It had swirled around him, breaking off chunks and shredding crucial bits until he knew nothing but _loss_ and _rage_. He did not know who they were supposed to be directed at, or what, or when or why, he only knew that they existed.

And then it was dark.

But this dark was different from the hate. The hate was blackness, was evil, was pure disgusting lust for blood and gore and repulsive carnage.

 _This_ dark…this was the dark of _blindness_ and _not-sight_. Of not-seeing a world meant to be seen.

Except he could _see_.

He could see the faint grain on the wood, and he could feel the hardness closed in around him. He could see the faintest of light through a crack around this world.

He waited, in silence and darkness, glad only to be free of _hatecarnageviolence_.

And then the world exploded in _light_ , and his old enemy was in front of him.

And the _hate_ returned, and the enmity that had done its best to torment and consume his soul while in death suddenly knew that this was its second chance.

But it could do nothing.

The _man_ had bound them to silence, had restored the _light_ and then taken the _freedom_. They were servants once more.

"Go."

He left.

He ran.

He sprinted from tree to tree in a fierce effort to escape the ferocious _hate_ that followed him.

But it caught up.

And all was dark again, dark as the vilest emotions ripped at him, _tore_ at his soul –

And then he was saved, by a ray of light.

The light belonged to a boy, a boy he had given a gift to in order to save another. The _boy_ …had used his gift of light on _Itachi_ instead of _Sasuke_ and _Itachi_ was _seething._ But it was an angry sort of seething, and not a hateful kind, and so he found it within himself to forgive the boy.

And they joined ranks, because the boy was still part of Itachi's soul and Sasuke had forfeited that right quite knowingly.

And there was no hate, for he was alive and free and ready to _go_.

And he had won.

-x-

-x-x-


	40. Departure - Itachi, Sarutobi, Mikoto, & Sasuke

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted."

"I…don't think I can do this."

Sarutobi watched the boy contemplatively and then sighed.

"I am afraid that you have no choice, my boy. Only through your actions can the Will of Fire continue to burn strong."

Itachi shook his head. "And you think the way to ensure the continued flame is to kill your own innocent villagers? Not all of the Uchiha are ninja! There are smiths and cooks and tailors and friends and _families_...!" He broke off, clenching his fists where they remained on the ground. His crouch was uncomfortable, but the pain of stiff muscles was infinitesimal compared to the emotional ache. "I know that you command my every action, but I swear to you that if you force me to do this, I will never again glimpse your precious Will within myself!" He looked the sandaime straight in the eye as he whispered his final statement. "And I will never forgive you."

All Hiruzen could do was frown and nod, left to watch as the boy genius flitted away from his sight.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Aw, honey, what's got you down? You don't get up soon, I'll eat all your dessert~"

Itachi ignored his older companion – _annoyance_ , his reflex-thought inserted before his heart-thought won out with _nakama_ – and the tone of voice that told him that she knew _exactly_ what had 'gotten him down' and that she had absolutely _no_ idea how to 'get him back up'.

He knew she was fishing for a solution, but he knew there wasn't one, _couldn't_ be one and all he could do was shake his head and fall into a slump and he was _not crying,_ he _couldn't_ cry, not when the whole village was unknowingly _depending_ on him and this was too much _pressure_ and-

A huge hug filled with motherly, sisterly, and friendly affection and support was quite what he needed right then, and as miracles would have it, Anko decided to give it.

Stroking his hair and pulling out the tie so she could muss it up in what she hoped was a motherly, sisterly, and friendly way, the sixteen-year-old tried her best to comfort and reassure him.

Itachi didn't move for a long time after her whispered speech, and Anko continued to hold him, stroking his hair every once in a while. The job of reliever was an important one, and she was determined to be there for Itachi for as long as she could. She almost hoped to be asked to go with him-but then she caught hold of herself and her wayward affections and reigned them in, closing off a foreverfornever pipe dream that she shouldn't have entertained in the first place.

When he at last rose from her embrace, she stayed where she was and let him walk away in a mask of adamant.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Brother, where were you today? You promised to take me to the park after academy practice!"

A reassuring whine letting Itachi know everything was alright was what he was greeted with every night without fail, whether he'd done his brotherly duty or not – of course, according to Sasuke, _nothing_ was ever enough.

But that was okay, because that meant Sasuke still loved him enough to want him there, and to care when he wasn't. His father he wasn't so sure about, but Fugaku (and maybe a little of Madara's influence) was the man that had got him this thrice-be-damned mission in the first place.

"Brooootheeeeer!"

"Yes, Sasuke, I heard you. I was out with Anko-san earlier; it couldn't be helped." He leaned over to pick his little brother up in a gesture of sibiling love that hadn't been taken out of the closet in years. Sasuke's breath hitched as he was lifted up and placed on Itachi's hip and he grinned, unable to help himself.

"I forgive you for staying out with that boring girl," he let his brother know softly, nuzzling into his shoulder sleepily. "But next time it's us, and only us! And you have to push me on the swings. But only when nobody's looking, 'cause the girls would laugh if they saw."

Itachi wanted to smile, he _tried_ , but he could only think of how, in a day's time, Sasuke's mind would be consumed by anger and sorrow and regret and loathing and horrible, horrible vengeance. He could only summon up worries and predictions that Sasuke's world would suddenly become a dark and forbidding place, and as he tucked his little brother into bed, he reached out for one last hug.

"I love you, Sasuke. Don't ever forget that."

The boy was too drowsy to be seriously puzzled by the unusual statement and so he only smiled and closed his eyes, too weary to see a last image of his favorite person walking out of the room on silent feet, leaving his precious brother behind for the last time.

-x-x-x

-x-


End file.
